Canada is home to five times as many music-industry businesses per capita than the United States, according to new analysis from the University of Toronto's Martin Prosperity Institute. The Great Musical North has 5.9 record labels, distributors, recording studios and music publishers per 100,000 residents, compared to just 1.2 in the U.S., and Canada's musical talent is more spread out among a diverse range of cities. "In 2009, there's nothing that forces you to be in a big city to play music," said researcher Ian Swain. "You could conceivably record music on your computer in Nunavut, but people obviously cluster in certain cities.

When researchers look at the concentration of music-industry businesses in major North American cities, six of the top 15 cities are Canadian, but the two biggest are American. With its focus on country and pop crossover music, Nashville is clearly the musical epicentre, with 11 times the music businesses expected for its size. Los Angeles the global giant of the entertainment business" according to Rotman has about three-and-a-half times the number of industry establishments its size would predict.

Montreal is a close third, followed by Toronto and Vancouver, all just ahead of New York and home to two to three times as many music-industry businesses as would be expected for their size. Quebec City, Winnipeg and Ottawa-Gatineau clock in lower down the list, alongside such U.S. cities as Madison, Wis., Atlanta, Ga. and Austin, Texas. The average music studio, label or distributor in Canada employs 5.7 people and brings in $540,000 (all figures U.S.) per year, while American music businesses have 5.9 employees and rake in $4.1 million annually on average.

"We get the impression there's much more cultural funding in Canada for musicians and other artists, whereas, in the U.S., there's less of that and so it's more industry-driven," said Swain, adding that the headquarters of major music labels are almost all in the U.S., raising the average earnings. "Nashville, Los Angeles and New York City, these are places where there's really a globalized music industry and they're producing global stars, whereas, in Canada, there's more of an even distribution. There's more cultural value.